Calculating RAW Costs

[BC_MoM]

Would anyone be willing to calculate how much it would cost us monthly to feed the M&M's raw?

Mickey is 21" and 40-44lbs.
Molly is 18" and 30-35lbs.

[.sarah]

There are more factors than this. Your dog's activity level, how well their metabolism works, etc. Raw can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it. I'm not sure how much Canadian dollars differ from US but I do not buy things unless if they are $1.19/lb or less, except for things that are only fed occassionally. Prey-model raw should be the same price or cheaper as a premium kibble. BARF (usually ground meat with tons of added supplements and veggies) is generally more expensive.

[lv4dogs]

I do not buy things unless if they are $1.19/lb or less, except for things that are only fed occassionally.

Gosh can I come live with you? If I were to only buy meats that are $1.19/lb or less my dogs would only get chicken & organs. Even $1.99/lb & less leaves little choices for me, even from local butchers & the like.
How do you get it so cheap? If I can feed what you do for your price I could start feeding ALL raw again, even without a freezer.

I notice quite a few people from the south & west seem to get their meats cheaper than we do up here.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I get turkey legs for $0.80 per pound, turkey wings for $0.43 per pound, chicken quarters for $0.88 per pound and pink salmon for $2.00 per pound. I go to my local grocery stores and all the meat is packed into 11 pound boxes. I haven't bought beef yet, but found whole tenderloin and racks of beef ribs at a local asian supermarket. Rabbit is $6.99 per pound and duck is $1.60 per pound.

Since you live in Canada, try the Real Canadian Superstore - I get my chicken leg quarters and fish from there. I don't know if you have a Buy Rite where you live, but they have the BEST deals on meat.

[shihtzulover850]

My cousin has limited money to spend on dog food so I am wondering if raw for his dane would be cheaper than kibble.......

[lv4dogs]

I get turkey legs for $0.80 per pound, turkey wings for $0.43 per pound, chicken quarters for $0.88 per pound and pink salmon for $2.00 per pound. I go to my local grocery stores and all the meat is packed into 11 pound boxes. I haven't bought beef yet, but found whole tenderloin and racks of beef ribs at a local asian supermarket. Rabbit is $6.99 per pound and duck is $1.60 per pound.

Wowsers, your prices are super cheap too! Gosh am I living in the wrong area. lol


Just be careful when you feed raw salmon. Pacific Northwest Salmon (and possibly other fish) carry a disease called salmon poisoning. It is an infectious disease caused by a rickettsia that uses a parasite fluke on salmon as a host. It is mainly found in Pacific salmon, but any suspect fish may be tested. Avoid this danger by knowing the quality of the fish you are feeding to your pets."

It is possible that deep freezing the salmon for one week will kill any parasites, but I still feel it is best to just avoid raw salmon all together.

One of my dogs actually died from it so I will never ever feed it to any of my dogs just to be on the safe side.

[.sarah]

Gosh can I come live with you? If I were to only buy meats that are $1.19/lb or less my dogs would only get chicken & organs. Even $1.99/lb & less leaves little choices for me, even from local butchers & the like.
How do you get it so cheap? If I can feed what you do for your price I could start feeding ALL raw again, even without a freezer.

I notice quite a few people from the south & west seem to get their meats cheaper than we do up here.

I buy things on sales, for the most part. Not sure if you have Harveys up where you are, but they are very cheap. Wal-mart is also cheap but sometimes their meat quality sucks. But I just bought a bunch of Tyson products from there, all for very good prices. Winn-Dixie is very, very, very cheap. I mean dirt cheap, so I go there often. Publix can be expensive but when they put things on sale you can get good deals. I get my lamb shanks from there on their last day of shelf life and they are marked down quite a bit. Our butchers are pretty expensive but one of them has a orange label sale that goes on ... all the time lol. And basically you can get 5 orange-labeled items for $20.00. I always get the largest packages and can easily save $5-10 from it.

Also, there is a supplier that I am planning on buying from, but with shipping it probably isn't cheaper for you to buy from her. She ships to the east coast. I can send you the link when I get home tonight.

Most of the raw feeders I know won't buy things unless if it is $.99 or less, and these are people I know over the internet so there are some located up where you are! Have you joined the rawfeeding Yahoo! group that I posted a link to in this thread? You can join and ask other New Yorkers where they get meat for a good price. The people on that list are really helpful.

[.sarah]

It is possible that deep freezing the salmon for one week will kill any parasites, but I still feel it is best to just avoid raw salmon all together.

Yep this is true. One week will almost certainly kill it but two weeks is better for my concience I generally buy local fish but got a great deal on whole Alaska Salmon a few weeks ago. It's been in the freezer since then, not sure when I'm going to feed it.

The parasite is also found in trout and another fish that I can't remember the name of. They are the three types of Salmonoid fish

[lv4dogs]

Thanks sarah.

The only store we have up here that you listed is walmart. lol And the super walmarts are all at least a 35 minutes drive one way.

I'm still feeding raw, its just that if I can get it cheaper I can start feeding ALL raw even with not much freezer space!

I think I joined them before but if I am correct it was a few years ago, not as many people fed raw back then and I don't really care for yahoo groups, the way they have their sites set up is a pain to keep track of all the replies & the such. But WTH I'll check it out again for the pups sake.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I buy all of my fish already frozen. I haven't bought any fresh fish yet, but I will definately take a look at the local butcher - their fish is always really fresh. Would canned salmon be better/safer?

[k9krazee]

Okay this is along the same lines...not trying to hijack your thread too much Jess

How much do you RAW feeders think you spend every week?? The kibble is running low and I'd like to start them on raw within the next week or so. I've been doing a lot of research lately...I'm just concerned about the cost. I've calculated that they would need about 5lbs of food a day (for one 95lb dog, two 20-25lb dogs, one 45lb, and one 8lb!) And it seems like it would get quite costly My mom is willing to give me only $10 a week (since thats what we're currently paying for kibble) and I'm sure I could chip in since I do have a job now, I was just curious the average amount you spend...

I think I'll visit the local butchers tomorrow asking for organs, chicken carcasses, necks and feet and see what I can do. We have a freezer packed with venison, but I really wanted to start them on chicken...but now I'm just thinking out loud, sorry

[Aspen and Misty]

Kind of along the same lines as this thread...

How many pounds should my dogs eat per day?

Konnor is a very Active 55 pound Golden/Shepherd mix

Nova is a lazy 65 pound Shiba Inu/Lab mix

Also, could I buy a pack of meat, like Chicken legs or some kind of Chicken and feed that for a week or so then buy another kind of meat and feed that for a week or so? If I do this, does anyone know if I could keep this kind of meat in a fridge? We have a mini fridge that we don't use that I know I could put the dog's meat in it. How long can meat stay good if kept in a fridge?

Thanks!

Ashley

[lv4dogs]

How much do you RAW feeders think you spend every week??

When I was feeding nothing but raw with my 3 (which wasn't too long ago either) I spent on the average about $10/week (every once in a while I spent up to about $25, usually only if I had extra money & wanted to get them some different kinds of meat).

But that was also when I had at least 3/4 of my freezer space just for them so I could buy more in bulk. At that time I was also getting a lot of venison for free, so I guess if I were to buy all my meat it would probably cost me about $5 extra a week.

Nanook & Raustyk weighed the same, 98lbs & 75 lbs and Kaige was a growing puppy so he ate a lot.



I will be feeding all raw once again in the near future and I think I have researched enough to know what I will be spending once again. I have less freezer space now & 1 more dog, Indy, weighing in at about 62lbs, Kaige weighs about 52lbs now. Granted I found a butcher who is saving me some "scraps" for free, possibly 25cents/lb. But I still have to buy just about everything else.
I will be spending about $15-$20/week. Once my friend & her daughter move out I will have more freezer space saving me about $5/week.

[bckrazy]

For Gonzo, who eats all raw, and Fozzie, who eats half raw, I spend about $20-30 per month. Gonzo gets about .5 lbs a day, and Fozzie gets slightly less plus kibble. I don't buy anything over $1/lb that will make up a big part of their food intake, like Sarah. The most expensive meat that I buy is pre-made raw, Farmore, which costs less than $2/lb for me.

The best stores for good products with low prices are Albertson's, Costco, and the local butcher. The butcher sells a mix of RMB's at suuuper low prices, and all of the specialty stuff like tongue, feet, esophagus, etc.